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« on: 22-Dec-10, 06:20:52 AM » |
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It’s reaching more than a hundred in numbers and represents a slaughter the likes of which officials have never seen.
Doug Jones and two other wildlife officers have been patrolling the beaches and waterways along Topsail Island with scopes and binoculars hoping for some new lead, information or to flat out catch those responsible for shooting, cutting and decapitating more than 150 brown pelicans.
“I cannot tell you how frustrating this is to our officers and our agency,” said Jones, a wildlife officer with North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. “We’re out … every day trying to observe illegal activity.”
The NCWRC is assuming the killings are happening within state waters and within three miles from shore, Jones said. The birds have been washing up along the beaches from North Topsail Beach south to Topsail Beach. Federal officials, including marine fisheries officers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and federal agents with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have been notified of the situation, Jones said.
“I personally have not seen it to this extent before,” Jones said. “If we catch who is doing this they will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”
NCWRC officials have also not seen this degree of brutality previously in the state, said Geoff Cantrell, a public information officer with the agency.
He said with the ongoing investigation, officials could not speak to the characteristics or behavior of the violator(s).
Jones said none of the injuries on the birds he has examined appear to be accidental.
“These are not accidental deaths with nets. All the injuries appear to be deliberate,” said Jones.
Deb Woody, a volunteer at Possumwood Acres Wildlife Sanctuary, found several dead pelicans on the beach Sunday evening. Pelicans have been washing up on the island since early November.
“At 9 p.m. I was pulling them up four to six at a time,” she said. “I found two that were decapitated and the rest appear to be wounded in the chest with what appears to be a bullet wound, but we haven’t confirmed that yet. I dread that people are going to come here for the holidays with all these dead birds.”
Local police and the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office are helping with the investigation.
“I encourage anyone who has seen or sees anything to please contact their local police department,” Woody said.
Several have been found alive, but with injuries so severe they had to be euthanized, said Toni O’Neal, the director of Possumwood Acres, a nonprofit wildlife sanctuary in Hubert specializing in the rehabilitation and treatment of small mammals, songbirds, waterfowl reptiles and others.
Sara Schweitzer, a biologist with NCWRC, picked up group of dead pelicans Monday to send to the University of Georgia for diagnostic work.
The university’s program, Southeastern Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Disease Study, is a research group that takes cases from Southeastern states, she said. The diagnostic and pathology results will confirm how the birds died. Stomach contents will also be checked. Schweitzer was unable to give a date of when the results would be in.
“This will tell us if the birds have been feeding regularly and will tell if they’re feeding on fish that are more bottom fish which would indicate they are feeding more from the fisherman’s catch rather than themselves,” she said.
Pelicans had a successful breeding season this year meaning there may be more younger birds out on the water. That with cold weather could attract more birds to fishing operations as a source of food, she said.
NCWRC and other agencies, including NOAA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, Audubon, and WRC are taking the matter seriously, Schweitzer said.
“This length of time and number of birds is pretty unprecedented and has gotten us all pretty alarmed,” she said
Anyone who finds a pelican should report it to local officers or NCWRC.
There is a $6,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest.
Contact Possumwood Acres at 910-326-6432.
ENCTODAY.COM
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